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Written by

Detroit Free Press Business Writer

Rooms have views of downtown Detroit.

A coffee shop is part of the hotel renovations.

Crowne Plaza Pontchartrain

Reopening:June 12 Location: Corner of Washington and Jefferson across the street from Cobo Center. Rooms: 367, including 88 suites Amenities: Coffee shop, restaurant, banquet facilities, 24-hour business center, fitness center, indoor pool. History:Built in 1965, the hotel went thought various owners and name changes before closing in 2009. Trivia: A longtime nearby restaurant known as the Pontchartrain Wine Cellars created the popular (although sometimes maligned) drink known as Cold Duck — a mix of burgundy wine and champagne.

Pontch history

Designed by the architecture firm King and Lewis, the Pontchartrain was downtown’s first new hotel built since the 1920s. With its faceted glass facade, the hotel offered vistas of the Detroit River from every room. But the hotel’s fortunes declined over the years as the city’s tax base and population fled to the suburbs. After undergoing several changes of name and ownership, the hotel closed in 2009. The new owners include Mexican businessman Gabriel Ruiz and some European investors. Perhaps no discussion of the Pontchartrain could be complete without asking about the long-proposed twin tower that various developers have suggested could rise next to the existing hotel. Kralevic said the owners might be interested in building such a tower if the Pontchartrain proves profitable enough.

The former Hotel Pontchartrain sits directly across Washington Boulevard from the main entrance to Cobo Center. / Photos by Jarrad Henderson/DFP

Built in 1965 but closed in recent years, the Hotel Pontchartrain reopens in mid-June as the Crowne Plaza Pontchartrain.

Featuring 367 rooms including 88 suites, the hotel sits directly across Washington Boulevard from the main entrance to Cobo Center. As in its earlier incarnations, the Pontchartrain’s proximity to Cobo will play a key role in its success, said general manager Mike Kralevic, a veteran of the local hotel scene.

“It’s really been a great cooperation between Cobo and us,” he said last week.

Kralevic said the hotel would do a soft opening June 12 and hold a more ceremonious opening event in July or August. Amenities include the banquet facility atop the 25-story hotel and a new Jefferson Avenue drive-up entrance.

Michael O’Callaghan, executive vice president of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the reopening of the Pontchartrain fills a need for a midsize hotel adjacent to Cobo, which is undergoing a $277-million expansion and upgrade. The Pontch’s location will make it easier to book new convention and meeting business.

“We’re excited. We’re really excited,” he said.

The reopening of the Pontchartrain will bring the total of downtown’s hotel rooms to about 5,000, said Chuck Skelton, president of the Ann Arbor consulting firm Hospitality Advisors. Occupancy rates downtown in recent months have been in the low 60% range, the best in some time. That level is considered at or near the break-even point for profitability.

“That market has performed pretty well,” Skelton said. “Now that they’ve remodeled Cobo, I think that market will stay solid for awhile.”

The current downtown revival is spurring construction of new hotel rooms just as it’s bringing new residential apartments to the market. The David Whitney Building, a 1915 office tower undergoing reconstruction, will include a 136-room Aloft Hotel as well as rental apartments and commercial space. And in March, Southfield developer Walter Cohen bought the city’s historic fire headquarters near the Pontchartrain and announced plans to remake it as a small boutique hotel.